Selling a property to a friend, without an agent. What is fair and correct?

[QuintShhhhhh]

We had the house valued this spring, and friend is willing to pay the valuation price. She is keen on the house, so we thought we might as well not use an agent and not put it on the open market, seeing as she is keen.

We were thinking of getting a solicitor to do the conveyancing / sale to ensure everything is done properly. Take a 25% cash deposit from friend, and let her move in prior to completion. (she first suggested we swap houses till hers is sold - she is pregnant and naturally keen to settle asap) We are keen on porting our current mortgage and buy a smaller flat, and this needs to tie in with completion on both properties falling within a 30 day period.

She is putting her house on the market, wants to paint to get better offers, and she therefore wants access to both properties so she can repaint hers and put a new kitchen in mine, and she wants me to come with her to the notary to sign her up as co owner for our house, in exchange of her deposit.

To be honest, on hearing this I just think it easier for us to take our chances and just put in on the market and follow the normal process. It has gone from us making it easy for her due to pregnancy, and she wanting ownership of our house in exchange of paying deposit, and us totally out of the way.

At the same time I wanted to sell to her because she is a friend, and I did not want the hassle of having it on the market, but this sounds like much more hassle than it is worth.

[wowfudge]

God no - Mrsjayy that is another bonkers suggestion.

[CocoChanel22]

perching on fuck no bench

You sound lovely to want to help your friend so much but seriously don't do this!! You've already said it seems like hassle and you've not really started anything yet!

[emwithme]

Absolutely fine to sell to a friend without agent.
Absolutely NOT FINE to not use a solicitor
Absolutely NOT FINE to let her move in before completion
Absolutely NOT FINE to add her to your deeds (but your mortgage company won't let you do that anyway)

[LIZS]

If you rented it to her , how long would it be before she'd decide she couldn't really afford two properties and default on rent , bills etc but still think she had free rein to redecorate and you'd tolerate it as a friend. Iirc you've had problem tenants before.

[Mrsjayy]

Whats bonkers selling once her mortgage is in place or renting ?

[FishWithABicycle]

No no no no no no no. Don't make her Co owner. Do not rent it to her (you would have all sorts of obligations and expenses. It would be a nightmare). Do not let her start making any changes to your house before she owns it - if anything went wrong or there was an accident it would be uninsured.

You each need a solicitor to look out for your own interests. Trying to cut corners will all go bad.

[specialsubject]

budge up on the bench, I'd like to join it.

she is no friend of yours with all these piss-taking ideas. Not using an agent can work, otherwise you use solicitors and she gets the keys the day of completion. Absolutely no access before then except to measure things.

[addictedtosugar]

Err, while your paying the mortgage on the house she is living in, where are you living, and can you afford the rent on top of the mortgage???

[wowfudge]

Mrsjayy minimum AST is 6 months. Any informal renting arrangement would be doolally because it leaves the OP wide open to all sorts of trouble plus the legal position would be complicated and, guess what, the extra legal costs would be the OP's; not her friend's!

[wowfudge]

I didn't explain that clearly, the legal costs in sorting out the rental agreement before the sale would be the OP's. Not legal costs is everything went wrong.

What if the OP's pal rent's but never follows through on the purchase? Could take months to evict her, so no chance of securing another sale for a while as the OP won't be able to give vacant possession.

I'm willing to be the friend is just not thinking things through, but at this rate it'll be a friendship ended unless the OP stands up for herself.

[wowfudge]

Willing to bet

[QuintShhhhhh]

Selling to her without an agent (and of course having a solicitor each) seemed perfectly fine until she wanted access to both houses, and live in ours, and become co owners. I nearly fainted when DH told me what she had suggested. (I am not currently living there - and no, we are not splitting, before somebody asks!)

We will do it by the book. I like to give her three months before we put it on the market. Thats a good idea.

[Roseformeplease]

Tell her that it will not work with insurance. What if, for argument's sake, she moves in early and the house burns down. She is fine but who pays? You - it was your dodgy wiring? Her? She left the tumble dryer on? It sure as hell won't be the insurance company.

[stonecircle]

No, no, no,no ,no, no, no, no!!!! Are you mad?

[lalalonglegs]

You can rent it to her once she exchanges if you would like to; there is a legal formula for doing this whereby the buyer/tenant pays about 4%pa (iirc) of the outstanding balance on the property broken down into monthly or weekly installments and s/he is responsible for any repairs. We did it once when a flat we were selling needed a particular piece of paperwork the freeholder was being gitty about and the buyers were about to be homeless. You specify a certain time for completion (in our case, a few months).

Anyway, I really hope that your friend is being naive and not trying to pull a fast one.

[whataboutbob]

I sold a property to a friend, my cousin in fact. The only difference against a conventional sale was that there was no agent. We agreed on a price and followed the procedure via the notary (it was in France). Everything was done 100% as per usual procedure.
Still got a little annoyed when he insisted I had to clear every last paperclip before he made the last payment, but he was well within his rights.
At no point did either of us have any misgivings or hear alarm bells. Well done for trusting your instincts, this sounds dodgy and luckily you've come round to your senses before she got her feet under the table!

[QuintShhhhhh]

Her husband came around to see dh last night, huffing and puffing and being rude and patronizing.
He suggested we just put it on the open market if we dont like their suggestions.

So that is what we will do.

I will tell her today.

[wowfudge]

Well I think you now know where the suggestions were coming from.

[MerdeAlor]

Very sensible Op, youve dodged a bullet.

Phew!

[Berthatydfil]

absolutely agree.
Put it on the open market she pays the market value - ok you have pay the estate agent fees moneywellspent
And you get a solicitor to handle the sale saynotoheroutrageousdemands--
If they want it they will put in a good offer if not - hey ho.

[YonicScrewdriver]

Good plan, Quint.

[Fairenuff]

Oh great, he made it so easy for you, you now have the perfect opportunity to bow out gracefully.

Phew, that could have been a right old Pandora's Box there.

[FishWithABicycle]

Sounds sensible.

[FishWithABicycle]

I wonder if their house hunting on the open market for a house where the vendors will make them co-owners on receipt of deposit and allow them to move in and start redecorating before completion will be successful?